Ayden Sng, other first-time nominees crack Star Awards Best Actor category
He may have been snubbed at previous editions, but Mediacorp’s rising star Ayden Sng has finally cracked the nominations at the upcoming Star Awards, with a nod for Best Actor.
The annual ceremony, considered local entertainment’s biggest night of the year, will take place on April 9.
Rumours of Sng quitting swirled in 2021 when the up-and-comer, who left his corporate career to sign with the broadcaster in 2019, was completely left out of the awards that year despite landing major roles in Loving You (2020) and Recipe Of Life (2020 to 2021). He refuted the rumours and subsequently renewed his contract with Mediacorp.
Now, he is in the running for Best Actor for his performance in The Unbreakable Bond, alongside two other first-time nominees – Richie Koh and Desmond Ng for their roles in the much-lauded series Your World In Mine. The drama, about a family with an adult son who is intellectually disabled (played by Koh), won audiences over with its heart-warming storyline. Ng portrayed the love interest of the sister of Koh’s character.
Sng, Ng and Koh will have a tough fight for the trophy as they are up against veteran Brandon Wong as well as three-time winner in the category, Qi Yuwu, for Dark Angel.
Wong, who shed tears at 2022’s Star Awards after snagging his first Top 10 Most Popular Male Artiste award after 27 years in the business, has more than one reason to rejoice. Aside from his Best Actor nod for Leave No Soul Behind, he is also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Dark Angel.
The Best Actress slate recognised the on-screen mother-daughter pair of Huang Biren and Hong Ling from Your World In Mine. Veteran Huang took home the win in 2022 for Recipe Of Life, while Hong is a first-time nominee in the category. The category is rounded out with Zoe Tay (Dark Angel), Jesseca Liu (Soul Detective) and Rebecca Lim (Soul Doctor).
Your World In Mine leads the nominations, with seven of its cast members up for acting awards – Zhu Houren is competing for Best Supporting Actor, while Lina Ng and Xiang Yun are up for Best Supporting Actress. The show is also vying for the title of Best Drama Serial.
While the awards are entirely focused on Chinese-language programming, Indian talent Dharmadasa D. Dharamahsena – who speaks fluent Mandarin and hosts the bite-size entertainment variety series #JustSwipeLah – has been nominated for Best Rising Star, which replaces the Best Newcomer award.
Aside from the Top 10 Most Popular Male and Female Artiste awards given out every year as the highlight of Star Awards, there is a new category this year called Most Popular Rising Stars, given to three up-and-coming artistes with the most votes from fans.
Unlike in previous years, where a preliminary shortlist of 40 artistes in the running for the Top 10 Most Popular Male and Female Artistes categories was selected via a poll of 1,000 people, no such shortlist is available in 2023. All eligible nominees in popularity categories will proceed straight to public voting.
Awards given to programmes such as Best Drama Serial will be presented at a gala dinner held on March 30.
Performance and popularity awards will be handed out at the live show at Marina Bay Sands, which will air on Channel 8 and Channel U on April 9 at 7pm, with a simulcast on streaming platform meWatch and Mediacorp Entertainment’s YouTube channel. A Backstage Live show tracking the goings-on behind the scenes will also air on the same day on meWatch and YouTube.
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